Concern Over Increased Coronavirus Cases Has German Volunteer Ministers on Alert

In May, Scientology Volunteer Ministers across Germany distributed educational booklets in their communities to help neighbors understand prevention basics. Now, with new cases surging, the application of these prevention principles is of utmost importance. 

Germany’s rapid, proactive response to the coronavirus made it one of the first countries able to ease restrictions in May. But the number of new cases has risen sharply since late July. 

“We overcame it before, we can do it again,” said a Scientology Volunteer Minister who participated in the distribution of Stay Well booklets. She says people were eager to find out how to prevent the transmission of the virus and with an understanding of the basic principles of prevention we can get this back under control.

Distribution of the booklets took place in May in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Karlsruhe, Munich, and Ulm. Local Volunteer Ministers dressed in protective gear and visited shops, restaurants, houses of worship and private residences with displays of three simple booklets: How to Keep Yourself & Others Well, How to Protect Yourself & Others with a Mask & Gloves and How to Prevent the Spread of Illness with Isolation.

At one hair salon, the manager wanted to be on the Volunteer Ministers’ social media. He said he was proud to take part in the action. Another salon wanted to post the photos on his Facebook. “Of course we’ll take copies for our customers,” said another shop. “We want to help.”

The owner of an Indian restaurant already had a box of gloves and masks and bottles of hand sanitizer for people to take. He said our booklets totally aligned with his intention to protect his customers. 

 

A Berlin Dönerladen (fast food take-out) loved the booklets and took 200 copies for his guests.

A medical doctor found them “very useful and easy to read” because they explain how the virus spreads “without the complicated language.” He placed copies in the waiting room of his clinic.

“People would stop us on the street and ask us for copies of the booklets,” said a Volunteer Minister. “After reading them, they would come back to get booklets for their friends. Now every time I pass one of the shops I visited, the owner waves hello. There are so many nice people who want to help everyone get through this.”

These booklets can be read online or downloaded free of charge in 21 languages at the How to Stay Well Prevention Resource Center on the Scientology website, along with more than a dozen videos to illustrate the information.

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Distribution of the educational booklets began in May in communities around Scientology Churches and Missions across the globe. The Church of Scientology International Dissemination and Distribution Center made this possible by printing 5 million copies of Stay Well booklets.

The Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. It constitutes one of the largest and most visible international independent relief forces. A Volunteer Minister’s mandate is to be “a person who helps his fellow man on a volunteer basis by restoring purpose, truth and spiritual values to the lives of others.” Their creed: “A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.”